The Italian held a narrow advantage over Ryan Dalziel in the Starworks Riley-Ford behind the safety car, which had been deployed earlier in the eight hour.

Five cars remained on the lead lap with Richard Westbrook in the Spirit of Daytona Coyote-Chevrolet, Mike Rockenfeller in the similar Action Express car and Scott Pruett in the Ganassi Riley-BMW, which had just pitted, filling out the remainder of the top five.

The second Ganassi entry had dropped out of contention and ran six laps down after the car was taken behind the wall in the 15th hour.

Last year's winning entry, the lead Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford, was only three laps off the lead, after dropping seven laps off the lead after a first-hour delay.

The GT class was lead by the AIM Autosport Ferrari 458 in the hands of Nick Longhi from the similar Scuderia Corsa car driven by Olivier Beretta.